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Warrior bats erupt in DH

Cinderella wasn’t quite on the verge of pumpkin time when the Bartlesville Oilfield Warriors wrapped up their opening night of American Legion baseball play.

But, another inning or two and the rags-to-royalty babe would have been minus one glass slipper.

The clock read nearly 11:30 p.m. by the time Vinita toppled the Warriors, 10-8, in the second game of a marathon doubleheader.

In the first game — completed nearly three hours earlier — Oilfield had the final hee-haw. The Bartlesville squad erupted for five runs in bottom of the sixth — highlighted by Jimmie Koons’ triple — to pull past Vinita, 16-14.

One reality for the new-look — and young — Warriors glimmered brightly in the night.

Of course, Vinita’s bats didn’t exactly wilt in the lilt of the evening. The Hornets banged out a total of 17 hits and also scored 24 runs.

For those keeping track, the teams combined for 48 runs and 45 hits (not to mention 11 errors, 26 walks and six hit batsmen) during 14 innings of action.

And, the operative word is action. The teams scored in 16 of 27 half-innings.

Whew!

No one felt the vicissitudes of fickle fortune more than rookie Warrior pitcher Brad Cobb — who has yet to start high school.

Cobb collected the victory in relief in the first game, but suffered the loss in game 2.

Next up, the Warriors are slated to play host Tuesday to Skiatook.

Following are summaries of Friday’s games:

Warriors 16, Vinita 14

After Vinita hit into a game-ending doubleplay, Braves coaches Blake Hicks and Hunter Gaut could take their first real breath in three-plus hours — not to mention the spectators.

For the Hornets, meanwhile, all they had to munch on were the bitter wafers of “what if.”

This seemed to be the game no one wanted to win — or wanted to win too much.

The Warriors led after two innings, 9-7, but then watched the Hornets buzz in front, 14-9, two innings later.

With time running out, Bartlesville made its last stand.

In the bottom of the fifth, with two outs on the board, Joe Jones stepped to the plate and chopped at the first pitch, sending a flare single into the outfield. An error on the play sent him to second.

That brought Logan McNeill up to bat. He reached on an error to put runners on the corners for Kannon McCune.

McCune blasted a hot shot single — that ate up the shortstop — to plate Jones. Dalton Lanning followed with a high pop fly single to leftfield to drive home McNeill and pull the Braves within three runs, 14-11.

In the top of the sixth, the Warrior coaches called on Cobb to cool the Vinita fires. The hard-throwing righty retired the side in order — on a grounder back to the mound, a grounder to second baseman Jacie Hill and a pop up to first baseman Derek Hill.

The Braves then took control in the bottom of the sixth, sparked by Derek Hill’s one-out single.

Finally it was Koons’ turn. He blasted a standup triple to right-center to plate Derek Hill.

After the next batter popped out to the catcher, Jones came back to the plate.

He lifted a bloop single to plate Koons and pull the Braves within one run, 14-13. Moments later, McNeill got a hold of a 1-1 and pitch and sent a towering line drive double to left, which brought Jones home for the tying run.

And, the Braves weren’t done.

Following McNeill’s monster mash, Vinita changed pitchers, with McCune coming to the plate.

McCune reached on an error that allowed McNeill to dash home for the go-ahead run, 15-14.

A balk sent McCune to second. A wild pitch put him on third. And, another balk pushed him home to make it a 16-14 game.

Vinita finally got out of the inning.

Cobb nailed the door shut in the top of the seventh.

He retired the first batter on a pop-up to third baseman McCune, who had to make a tough adjustment in foul territory to snare the ball.

Cobb then gave up a walk. But, the next batter ripped a liner to shortstop McNeill, who caught the rocket and then gunned the ball to the first baseman to record the game-ending doubleplay.

To put it simply, the Warriors didn’t win so much as they survived.

They had burst out of the gate in the first inning with a full steam of energy. They tallied four runs in the frame, highlighted by Lanning’s two-run double.

Vinita scored six times in the top of the second — aided by six walks and a hit batsman — with K. Parker delivering a two-run single.

In the bottom of the second, the Warriors scored five times, with McCune clobbering a two-run double and Derek Hill adding a two-run single.

During the next three innings, Vinita scored seven runs, including two run hits by B. Carter and T. DeRosia.

However, the Warriors found a way to come back and win.

Cobb collected the pitching victory. Clayton McFarland (starter) and Trey Vaughan also pitched for the Warriors.

Vinita 10, Warriors 8

For the second straight game, the Warriors led after the first two innings.

McNeill and McCune earned back-to-back walks in the bottom of the first and scored on Koons’ looping triple to deep right-center.

An inning later, Andrew Barnes reached on an error and moved up to third on McFarland’s double.

Two batters later, McNeill reached base on an error that scored both runners to put the Warriors on top, 4-3.

Vinita answered with two runs in the top of the third — one of them on G. Martin’s single — to hi-jack the lead, 5-4.

However, in a game with more twists and turns than a snake caught in a washing machine spin cycle, Bartlesville snapped back quickly.

Jacie Hill zapped a single to lead off the bottom of the third, followed by Koons’ double. Two batters later, Pierson Lavery lashed a double to clear the bases. However, Lavery was thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple.

Barnes came up next. He belted a double and then scored on McFarland’s wormburning groundball single to right, to push the Braves to a 7-5 lead.

Vinita came back with three runs in the top of the fourth to inch ahead, 8-7.

The Braves knotted the game, 8-8, in the bottom of the fifth, on McFarland’s single to bring home Barnes.

But, McFarland would be later thrown out trying to score on a two-out fielder’s choice.

In the sixth inning, both teams left runners stranded at third.

Vinita made its winning push — with two outs — in the top of the seventh. E. Gibson singled ahead the go ahead/winning run.

The Warriors tried to rally in the bottom of the seventh after Jones was plunked on the batting helmet by a pitch.

But, the next Warriors’ batter lined into a doubleplay to wrap up the game.

Jacie Hill, Derek Hill, Cobb and McNeill each took turns pitching for the Warriors, with Cobb suffering the defeat.

Vinita’s G. Martin collected the pitching victory.

For the night, Jones went 4-for-8, with four runs, while Logan McNeill reached base nine times and scored five runs.

Koons delivered a total of three extra base hits, including two triples, and drove in four runs.